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towards the tent was the faithful Mr. Garden,' beckoning vigorously to me to come along. He had noticed that I had stayed behind, and had, at great risk to himself, turned back to fetch me. A little way ahead I espied Muley Abdallah and El F'kir Embarak mounted on mules, and Beyerle on foot just behind them, waiting for me to join him.

We all set off at a good trot; but while those on the mules kept to the level plateau, we headed southwards, scrambling down one side of an intersecting ravine and up the other. We were going in the direction of Assaka, and it would be a race between us and the pursuing Moorish cavalry. In a very short time the hiss of bullets startled our ears, and as they struck the ground with a 'pitt,' or lodged in the cactus scrub at our feet, it sounded like the patter of hail upon a pavement. Every now and then, as we dipped into a gully, the shots would come whistling overhead, or humming up the ravines from the sea.

And we were running for our lives! The sun, which even in January in that country is very powerful, beat down upon us with its burning rays, and the perspiration burst from our pores and trickled down our faces. For half an hour we struggled on, picking our way along the tortuous paths between the cactus growth, our heavy riding-boots weighing on our feet like lead. Glancing back now and again, we could see that the small body of horsemen in pursuit, about twenty in number, gained upon us but slowly. The short prickly undergrowth, that we had so often anathematized, now stood us in good stead; for if it made the going difficult for us, much worse was it for the horses, and every time their riders fired a shot they had to come almost to a halt to avoid a fall while taking aim.

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The men with the baggage had disappeared in the first ravine we had come to, striking off to the right as if making for the beach, there perhaps to hide in some of the caves until they could make good their escape under the friendly cover of the darkness, and there were left with us only Ibrahim Jinan and two other tribesmen. In their light clothing and slippered feet they never seemed to tire, and urged us on with words that we could but dimly comprehend. Beyerle, who had a pair of field-glasses slung over his shoulder as well as a large-sized Webley revolver, passed these over to one of the natives to lighten his weight. I handed my revolver also to 'Mr. Garden,' but retained my two daggers. The first skirmish we had rather enjoyed than otherwise, as an exciting break in the monotony of our camp life, but this ignominious helterskelter was a different affair, and bore too strong a resemblance to a man-hunt for my liking. A bullet is not a pleasant visitant at any time, and if it takes you in the back it is still less to an Englishman's liking. So when, in the next ravine, Beyerle called out to me that he would rather surrender than go on like that, I was almost of his way of thinking. The Moorish soldiers could not fail to recognise us as Europeans, and we could wait their coming and take our chance. That did not suit our Susi companions, however, who, seeing us lagging behind, turned back and urged us on again, one of them accompanying his exhortations by raining blows on Beyerle's back as he would a tired mule.

A few paces farther, and Beyerle, who had shown signs of giving in several times from sheer exhaustion, called out that he could go no farther. Just then I descried some mounted men at the foot of the hill a

few hundred yards ahead, but whether friends or enemies I couldn't tell; but they served as a spur to our flagging energies, although I was wellnigh spent myself. Taking my comrade by the hand, I dragged him along for a few more paces, our limbs becoming wearier with every step. The perspiration was running down our faces, and we were panting with the unwonted exertion like a couple of tired dogs.

Again Beyerle cried out that he could go no farther, and, seating himself on the ground, urged me to go on by myself.

'You can still run, old fellow,' he said; 'you go on and save yourself. Leave me here-I'm done.'

'No,' I replied;

if you stay, I stay too, and we'll see it out together;' and I waited whilst he recovered his breath a little.

Looking towards our pursuers, I saw that they were scarcely 200 yards behind, and they seemed to have ceased firing, pausing as if irresolute whether to go on or give up the chase and turn back. The Hassani, I could see, was steaming southwards after the Tourmaline, but we were quite out of range of her guns. The men at the foot of the hill were stationary too, and appeared to be friendlies, as they were signalling to us. Seeing this, I called Beyerle to pull himself together for one more effort, and, seizing him by the hand, raised him on to his feet and dragged him along. As we approached the little party, we saw, to our great joy, that there were two led mules for us. Poor Beyerle was so done up it took four men to lift him astride his beast, and it was with the greatest difficulty that I scrambled into my saddle by standing on a cactus bush. A sorry beast she was, in truth, with her bones nearly bursting

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